A faction of Boko Haram sect kidnapped her daughter alongside 109 other female students on February 19, 2018.

While 104 of the girls have been released, five of them reportedly died in captivity but the insurgents have kept Leah Sharibu captive for reportedly refusing to denounce her Christian faith.

Welby disclosed the meeting via a tweet, describing Rebecca as a woman of “profound courage and faith”.

“We were honoured to share the Eucharist with Rebecca Sharibu today. A woman of profound courage and faith, Rebecca is mother of 16-year-old Christian Leah Sharibu, kidnapped by #BokoHaram two years ago,” Welby wrote.

Rebecca, who also joined a group of Nigerians to stage a protest on the premises of the Nigerian high commission in the UK, called on the British government to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to secure her daughter’s freedom.

Rebecca said her family has been in pain since her daughter’s went missing. She appealed to Buhari to fulfil his promise by securing Leah Sharibu’s release.

“My daughter, my only daughter, is already two years in captivity, and President Buhari promised me that she would be released but she has not been released. I need Leah back home and I need him to set Leah free, just like the other girls were set free,” Rebecca said in Hausa.

“The students who were taken along with Leah have been brought back to their parents but we have been going through pain for two years, pains that cannot be described.

“On a daily basis, we hear Leah this, Leah that. We are in great pains. At times, when the stories come out, we feel so pained, we feel so terrible. We are constantly in pain, all we desire is to have Leah back with us.”

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As the 2019 elections drew nearer, the Sultan also warned that politicians might want to orchestrate the type of violent crisis that rocked Kaduna last week in which over 50 persons were killed by hooligans.

This, he said, would be done to scuttle the elections or to give the masterminds an advantage over their opponents.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the ‘National Dialogue for Democratic Stability’ organised by the Alumni Association of the National Institute, Abubakar said things were not right with the country, citing the increased level of crime and criminality across the federation.

The Sultan said, “I cannot say things are right with Nigeria; things are not right with Nigeria. We all know that and that’s why we have these security issues, kidnappings, killings, everywhere, everywhere you find a community.

“One of the saddest things that have happened in the last five days is the killing in Kaduna. If you know how these killings started, you would feel so bad. It is not a religious crisis; it was caused by people who don’t have jobs, they are hungry, they want to lead a good life.

“You would find that all that took place was the looting of shops, that’s all, nothing more. There was no burning of churches and mosques. People were going about killing people, breaking cars.

“As we inch closer to elections, we are going to get worse scenarios because politicians would definitely use it to do whatever they want, to scuttle elections or to make sure they are at an advantaged position”

Citing the Interfaith Initiative for Peace conference held in Abuja last week which was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the Sultan complained that its outcomes had not been implemented.

He also came hard on the current administration, stating that there was no coordination in the government, noting that the security agencies also were not working for a common purpose.

He lamented that there was little cooperation among the heads of the security outfits.

Abubakar said, “Who coordinates? Is it the office of the SGF (Secretary to Government of the Federation)? Is it the NSA (National Security Adviser) who coordinates national security? Is he really coordinating national security? That’s a big question we need to ask too.”

“There is a disjoint between the security agencies’ leadership and also the followers. The intelligence agencies are also working at different levels, so we continue to have this problem.

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Speaking when he appeared before the House of Commons, which summoned him over disparaging comments about Nigeria and Afghanistan, Cameron made a U-turn, saying both countries were making “remarkable steps forward” in their war against anti-corruption.

He said: “First of all, I had better check the microphone is on before speaking… tips on diplomacy are useful, given the last 24 hours, I have made many unforced errors.

“The leaders of Nigeria and Afghanistan are battling hard against very corrupt systems and have made remarkable steps forward.”

Angus Robertson, Scottish National Party leader, was said to have asked Cameron if he had heard the complaints of some Nigerian anti-corruption activists, who said their efforts were “seriously undermined” by the UK authorities.

“The role of London’s property market to conceal stolen wealth has been exposed in court documents, reports, documentaries and more.

“What is the Prime Minister going to do about this?” Robertson reportedly asked.

In his response, Cameron was quoted as saying: “Action is necessary by developed countries, as well as developing countries, and the steps we are taking to make sure that foreign companies that own UK property have to declare who the beneficial owner is will be one of the ways we make sure that plundered money from African countries can’t be hidden in London.”

Cameron had come under fire since the video of a private conversation he had with the Queen, with Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in attendance, where he referred to Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt countries,” a remark that did not go down well with Welby, who vouched for the integrity of the Nigerian leader, with whom he met yesterday at Lambert Palace, London.

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The organisation also suggested that a statement by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was hypocritical.

Cobus de Swardt, T.I.’s Managing Director, in his response to Cameron’s video, in which the British leader described Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt”, said the UK was actually the country that is “a big part of the world’s corruption problem.”

“There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day.

“But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London Anti-Corruption Summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era.

“This affects the UK as much as other countries: we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the world’s corruption problem,” de Swardt said.

Nigeria currently ranks 136 of 168 countries and territories ranked in T.I.’s Corruption Perception Index for the year 2015.

Cameron was caught on camera ridiculing Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt” country on Tuesday afternoon.

In the short footage, published by British television station, ITV News, Cameron told the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, that Nigeria and Afghanistan were “two of the most corrupt countries in the world”.

Nigeria promptly rejected that description and described Cameron’s comment “embarrassing.”

“This is embarrassing to us to say the least, given the good work that the President is doing,” President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu, said shortly after the news of the Prime Minister’s comment went viral on the Internet.

“The Prime Minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing with corruption and everything else.”

Cameron’s comment was published just as President Muhammadu Buhari departed Nigeria Tuesday to attend an anti-corruption summit organised by the UK government to be held in London on Thursday.

Cameron was briefing the Queen on the notoriety of countries expected to attend the summit during an event at the Buckingham Palace to celebrate the monarch’s 90th birthday, ITV News reported.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, however, said Buhari was not a corrupt person. “But this particular president is actually not corrupt,” the religious leader said. “Oh yes, he’s trying very hard this one.”

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Cameron will host an international anti-corruption summit on Thursday aimed at stepping up global action to combat corruption in all walks of life.

In a pooled video feed made available to the ITN broadcaster, Cameron was shown talking with the queen about the summit.

“We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit,” Cameron said when the queen approached. “We have got the Nigerians – actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.”

“Nigeria and Afghanistan – possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.”

The queen did not respond to Cameron’s comment, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby said: “But this particular president is actually not corrupt.”

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari and Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, both of whom are due to attend the summit, acknowledged corruption in their countries and have pledged to clean it up, Reuters reported.

Afghanistan is at number 166, second-from-bottom, in campaign group Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index, an annual ranking of countries.

Only North Korea and Somalia, jointly ranked at number 167, are perceived to be more corrupt. Nigeria is at number 136 in the index.

It was not clear whether Cameron realised he was being filmed and recorded at the event at Buckingham Palace, Reuters added.

A bystander then joked to laughter: “They are coming at their own expense one assumes?”

“Everything has to be open,” Cameron said. “There are no sort of closed-door sessions. Everything has to be in front of the press. It’s going to be. It could be quite interesting.”

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The archbishop had on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 programme on Friday, described the situation he met in Nigeria on his short visit to the Presidency as pathetic.

According to him, the insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East region is “an extraordinarily difficult situation to get on top of.

“You’ve got to realise this is an area about the size of Scotland … of woods and forest and hills. The Boko Haram is a group of the utmost evil.

“The militants are dealing out death right left and centre without hesitation and without mercy, concentrating a lot on Christian churches, but also attacking Muslims in the local population in vast numbers,” he said.

Welby had earlier expressed doubts in the ability of the Federal Government, the United States of America, Britain and other allies to swiftly rescue the abducted Chibok schoolgirls and bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Canterbury archbishop, who had once served as a negotiator between the Presidency and militants in the Niger-Delta during the amnesty programme, said the North-East’s distrust for the US and Britain could stall any intervention.

“It will take a long time,” the archbishop said.

“External intervention is always difficult. In the first place, Britain’s history as the colonial power, and the role of the United States of America in Iraq and Afghanistan, makes both countries suspicious for many Muslims,” he added.

Describing Boko Haram as being well-armed and well funded, the erstwhile negotiator said any approach to deal with the terrorist group “will have to combine police action and careful spiritual and economic development to convince local populations that it is possible to oppose Boko Haram.”

Writing last month in the UK’s Church Times which SUNDAY PUNCH was referred to by the archbishop’s spokesperson, Ed Thornton, Welby said tackling Boko Haram required caution and patience.

He wrote in the publication, “External help should involve advice where it can be offered, support for those who are displaced, expertise in training and development, and, above all, support for reconciliation, which will be long and difficult.

“The crisis has claimed many lives. We need to offer help humbly and respectfully to a people suffering in a country of great talent and potential.”

Welby, while speaking to the BBC Radio 4 in May, said even though Boko Haram was a distinct and “irrational” group, Nigerian authorities should try to negotiate with them.

“Boko Haram is very difficult to deal with and utterly merciless. They have a very difficult inner core and negotiation there is extremely complicated, though I think you need to try.”

Our correspondent made attempts to interview the archbishop about his discussion with Jonathan and his likely role in negotiating with the terrorist group.

In response to our correspondent’s email, Welby’s spokesperson said the archbishop was unavailable to respond to this newspaper’s questions.

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The video, which the paper described as “heartbreaking”, was said to have been shot in a jungle clearing a month after the girls’ abduction and an Australian cleric, Dr. Stephen Davis, said to have been hired by President Goodluck Jonathan, is negotiating for the release of the girls.

Dr. Davis, described as a friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been working secretly in Nigeria for almost a month now, the newspaper said.

Describing how the girls looked on the video, The Mail on Sunday said: “They are clearly scared, upset and trying to be brave. Each of them walks in turn to a spot in front of a white sheet fixed to a crude frame between the trees.”

“Four of them, it said, could be heard clearly, in Hausa, stating that they were taking by force and that they are hungry. A tall girl, aged about 18, says tearfully, ‘my family will be worried’.

“Another speaking softly, says: ‘I never expected to suffer like this in my life’. A third says: ‘They have taken us away by force’. The fourth girl complains: ‘We are not getting enough food’.”

The girls were said to have looked healthy and spoken bravely. Some are, however, said to have fallen ill, including one with a broken wrist.

The video, taken by an intermediary on May 19, is said to have been shown to Dr. Jonathan to serve as “proof of life” for the girls and to encourage him to accede to Boko Haram’s demands.

Two earlier videos showed the girls seated on the ground, dressed in hijab, reciting the Quran, and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau declaring he would sell them into slavery, or marry them off to their kidnappers, if members of his sect were not released from prison.

Dr. Davis, the paper said is “desperately” trying to free the girls after leaving his home in Perth, Australia, to travel to Nigeria following his recruitment by Dr. Jonathan for his hostage negotiation expertise.

The former Canon Emeritus at Coventry Cathedral in the UK, who moved back to Australia last year, reportedly told MailOnline: “I am encouraged by the progress.”

He was asked to come to Nigeria after previously brokering a truce between the government and Niger Delta militants in 2004.

Along with Mr Welby, he was frequently blindfolded and held at gunpoint during his peace work.

In an email from Nigeria, Davis revealed he has had “ongoing contact” with the groups involved in kidnappings in the North for seven years.

“This is a long process of building trust on both sides,” he said.

“There are several groups to deal with as the girls are held in several camps. This makes any thought of a rescue highly improbable. To attempt to rescue one group would only endanger the others.”

Despite the difficulties of a rescue operation, Dr Davis remains hopeful that the girls will be freed.

“Every day there is the possibility of the release of the girls,” he said.

“This is painful for the parents and the nation. The well-being of the girls is constantly on our minds and we want to see their release as soon as possible,” he said, adding: “We must not endanger their lives any further”.

Pressure from the international community and criticism of the President’s slow response to the kidnapping have led to a series of contradictory pronouncements from his administration.

Ministers have declared that the government would not negotiate with Boko Haram, or consider the release of prisoners, while official spokesmen have said “the window is always open for dialogue”.

At a Paris peace summit, several West African countries vowed to join Nigeria in an “outright war” against Boko Haram. Britain, France and America pledged their support and have sent teams of military experts and advisers to the region.

Intelligence sources have told The Mail on Sunday of several rescue attempts, one involving the release of suspected low-level Boko Haram members detained without charges or trial.

Two attempts were aborted at the last minute when the sect members became afraid while delivering a group of girls to a safe location.

Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said the government knew the location of the girls, claiming that the police and military had been “following them” since the abduction. He refused to divulge details, saying it would put the girls in further danger.

Sources said Marshal Badeh’s remark may have been the result of government officials seeing the new, unpublished video. They may have been able to persuade Boko Haram’s intermediary to provide details of the location. It is believed the hostages have been split into at least four groups.

“The vast majority of the Chibok girls are not being held in Nigeria,” Dr Davis said, adding: “They are in camps across the Nigerian border in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. I say the vast majority as I know a small group was confirmed to me to be in Nigeria last week when we sought to have them released.”

He described how tough the negotiation has been. “One of that small group of girls is ill and we had hoped we might convince the commander of the group holding her that she should be released so we could give her medical treatment.

“There are other girls who are not well and we have come close to having them released but their captors fear a trap in which they will be captured in the handover process.

“One girl has what I assume is a broken wrist as they demonstrate to me how she holds her hand. I have been told that others are sick and in need of medical attention,” Davis said.

A military source said: “This has been a race against time from the minute they were captured. As soon as the girls left Nigerian soil it was always going to be more difficult.

“The government made no attempt at a rescue until a month after they were taken. Now the situation gets more serious by the day.

“Any sort of attempt to get them would have to be cleared by the governments of the other nations.”

Condemnations of the government’s failure to address the Boko Haram menace, ever since a proposed peace deal failed last August – leading to the extension of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states – continued worldwide last week.

US Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Nigeria had been “tragically and unacceptably slow” to begin a search.

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He made the comments as he held a sign bearing the “#Bring Back Our Girls” slogan on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

Cameron is the latest high-profile supporter of the social media campaign after US First Lady Michelle Obama was pictured with a similar poster.

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram has claimed the abductions.

During the programme, fellow guest Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, handed Cameron the sign and asked if he would like to join the campaign.

Taking it from her, he replied: “Happily.”

Mr Cameron later tweeted: “Proud to support #BringBackOurGirls.”
‘Immensely complicated’

He told the BBC One programme: “I rang the Nigerian president to offer anything that would be helpful and we agreed to send out a team that includes some counter-terrorism and intelligence experts to work alongside the bigger American team that’s going out there.

“We stand ready to do anything more that the Nigerians would want.”

He said it was unlikely Nigeria would ask for British troops to help but added: “I said to President Jonathan where we can help, please ask, and we will see what we can do.”

Mr Cameron also spoke of the importance of tackling extremism around the world. “This is not just a problem in Nigeria,” he said. “We’re seeing this really violent extreme Islamism – we see problems in Pakistan, we see problems in other parts of Africa, problems in the Middle East.

“Also, let’s be frank, here in the UK there is still too much support for extremism that we have to tackle, whether it’s in schools or colleges or universities or wherever.”

He recognised it was not an easy task to look for the girls, who were taken from their school in Chibok on 14 April.

“We can’t just pile in and do whatever we’d like,” said Mr Cameron. “It’s immensely complicated because they are probably in this deep area of jungle that is three times the size of Wales.

“But it’s good that efforts are being stepped up and we’ll do what we can.”

The Foreign Office has said there are “large information gaps” because of the scale and nature of the incident.

“The priority for the team in the first instance is establishing the facts such as the precise identities of those taken and what has actually happened to help Nigeria build a better picture,” a spokesman said.

Obama has described herself and Barack Obama as being “outraged and heartbroken” over the girls’ abduction.

Speaking instead of her husband in the weekly presidential address, she said: “What happened in Nigeria was not an isolated incident. It’s a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said it was “wonderful” there was a global campaign to support the girls.

Speaking to The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4, the leader of the Anglican Church said the girls were at “colossal risk” from the extremists holding them.

“They are in the hands of a very disparate group which is extremely irrational and difficult to deal with and utterly merciless in the example it has shown in the past,” Archbishop Welby said.

During Sunday’s programme, Amanpour told Marr about the social media drive, saying: “On the one hand, the hashtag is great because it mobilises people.

“On the other hand, I’m a tiny bit concerned it’s a big bubble that then collapses with nothing really being done.”

However she said Nigeria was “100% saturated with social media” and that “this (campaign) is really getting to the people in Nigeria”.

Boko Haram has admitted capturing the girls, saying they should never have been in school and should get married instead. The group has also threatened to sell the girls as “slaves”.

The name Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language, and the group has been engaged in a violent campaign to create an Islamic state since 2009.

It is thought the majority of the girls are Christians, although a number of Muslims are among those who were taken.

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